Super Mothership
“By the way, what did you want me for just now?”
The scene had temporarily come to a pause. Nie Yun closed the screen, turned, and asked Catherine.
“Uh…” Catherine only now came back to herself — she had been so absorbed she’d actually forgotten the matter at hand.
“Report, Your Excellency. My Third Fleet is rendezvousing with Lady Isabela’s headquarters and is ready for battle! According to the operational plan, we will follow the main force in one hour to execute the second wave of attacks. Operation codename — ‘Tide’!”
Tide?
The Yangtze’s waves push the ones before them; each wave higher than the last?
Looks like this war’s scale probably won’t be any smaller than the last one…
Nie Yun stroked his chin and began to think about whether he should intervene on the battlefield.
The ongoing expansion of the wormhole would undoubtedly continue to enlarge the scope of the war, forcing the Gemini civilization to devote most of their attention here, tying up and wearing down their military strength.
But if the Gemini forces succeed and the wormhole shrinks back to its original size, it’s easy to imagine that, with nothing better to do, they’d turn their gaze back to nearby stars and the Solar System…
Hmm! Decision made!
No matter how reckless you get, I’ll find a way to smash you flat on the beach!
But wishful thinking aside, such a vast battlefield can’t be controlled by a single small fleet, and if I overreach I risk exposing my identity.
This won’t do — it looks like I’ll have to try getting in from the other side…
…
“Sss—” Spartacus hissed, gritting his teeth from the pain.
He was wrapped in bandages from head to toe while Sulla tended his wounds.
Compared with the severely injured Morsy, who needed treatment in a medbay, Spartacus’s condition was much better.
The Ryan people had been selected by the Wolf civilization from many peoples as a warrior race — physically tough and naturally gifted with an “accelerated regeneration” racial trait — so after a short recovery he was mostly fine.
“You had to show off! Don’t you know the gap between you and a senior warrior?” Sulla scolded him with her lips, but as she treated the wound her eyes were full of affection and concern.
“Uh, I’m fine, really.” Spartacus smiled sheepishly.
“Seriously, how did you manage to beat Morsy?”
As the person closest to him, Sulla naturally knew his real strength, and this was what puzzled her most.
They Ryan aren’t Saiyans — you don’t just get angry past a limit and transform into a much stronger version, right?
“Well…” Spartacus’s expression shifted slightly awkward.
Even to his closest companion this was hard to explain. Was he supposed to say he’d somehow been imbued with a “Hammer of Destruction” and suddenly become godlike?
Besides, if this secret got out, who knows whether that mysterious stranger would say, “Anyone who knows the secret is a comrade,” and then choose a “fateful” artifact for Sulla too?
He didn’t know why that stranger had helped him and then never appeared again; no matter how he called out in his heart there was no answer. Giving up one’s body and soul… still felt a little too uncanny. Better to keep Sulla away from him.
After thinking it over for a long time, Spartacus decided to figure out his own situation first before deciding whether to confess.
But just as he was preparing a story to brush her off, a shrill alarm suddenly blared with no warning!
“This is… an intrusion alarm?! Enemies from the other side of the wormhole!” Spartacus jolted, immediately leaping up in surprise.
“How can that be? They just suffered a defeat!” Sulla said doubtfully.
“Maybe… anyway, you need to get to the shelter immediately. I have to rejoin my unit at once!” Spartacus frowned.
“But your injuries—”
“Heh, these little injuries aren’t enough to make me hide in the rear to recuperate.” Spartacus gave a bitter smile.
As a bronze-rank warrior, he indeed enjoyed a certain status among the Ryan people — but that status existed only within his own race.
The Wolf civilization had no concept of humanitarianism. If you tried to flee from battle, what awaited you would be a cruel execution by association.
If you’re afraid of death, how can you serve as cannon fodder?
So as long as you can stand, even if you have to crawl, you must drag yourself back into the cockpit!
Under Sulla’s worried gaze, Spartacus quickly put on his combat suit and rushed toward his mech hangar.
By the time he arrived, the alarm had grown even more piercing. His attendants were drenched in sweat as they carried out the final emergency checks, but the mech’s arms already looked fully restored.
“Lord Spartacus, the unit has just been repaired and is ready for deployment at any time!”
The lead attendant hurried forward upon seeing him.
Although both arms had been severed by Nie Yun, leaving the mech in a miserable state, its most precise systems — the power core and main frame — hadn’t been critically damaged. Replacing the arm components was enough; the repair hadn’t taken much time at all.
“Good.”
Without wasting words, Spartacus prepared to board. Just before climbing into the cockpit, he paused, as if remembering something, and turned to ask:
“During the inspection, did you notice anything strange or abnormal?”
“Eh?”
The attendant froze for a moment, then responded nervously, “No abnormalities of any kind, my lord. Please rest assured!”
Spartacus said nothing more. He seemed relieved, then turned and entered the cockpit.
His question wasn’t out of concern that the repair process had gone wrong — in fact, each bronze-rank mech hangar functioned as its own small combat team.
Everyone here was one of Spartacus’s own people, those he trusted most. Their fates were bound together — honor shared, downfall shared. No one would be careless about something that affected all their lives.
What Spartacus truly cared about was the supernatural phenomenon that had occurred in his mech earlier. Now it seemed it might simply have been that person lending him a helping hand on a whim — there had been no activity since. Perhaps that mysterious entity had already left.
Makes sense. Among the tens of thousands of grunts like him, why would such a terrifying, unfathomable powerhouse fix their attention on someone as insignificant as him?
As for that whole “offering body and soul” thing… maybe it was just like checking the water meter or filling out a form — nothing serious?
Spartacus could only comfort himself with thoughts like that.
But before he could even start the mech, the screen before him flickered — and lines of eerie blood-red text began appearing one after another…
“System binding complete. First mission beginning release!
Mission objective: Uncover the enemy civilization’s sabotage plot, protect the wormhole expansion device, and turn the tide of battle!
Mission failure penalty… erasure!
P.S.: To live or to die — that is the question…”
Spartacus: “…”
TL Note- Wish me luck for my exams...
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